


First Coffee of the Day

by ssa_archivist



Category: Smallville
Genre: First Time, Futurefic, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-08-13
Updated: 2003-08-13
Packaged: 2017-11-01 06:33:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/353174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssa_archivist/pseuds/ssa_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for Sarah's Flash Fic challenge.  Clark has a bad day at the Daily Planet.and is getting pretty tired of Lex trying to destroy him all the damn time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Coffee of the Day

## First Coffee of the Day

by Evangelene

<http://www.livejournal.com/users/evangelene>

* * *

First Coffee of the Day   
by Evangelene 

Written for the Smallville Flash Fic Challenge Pairing: Clark/Lex  
Scenario: A bad day at the Daily Planet (submitted by Corinna_5). 

Rating: PG-13 (language) 

Thanks to Sarah for creating and overseeing this challenge. Thanks to Lexalot for reading my story. Thanks to everyone who ever sent me feedback, giving me the confidence to enter a challenge! 

Inspiration: I was racking my brain for days trying to come up with an idea for this challenge. I have been listening to a lot of Gary Glitter lately. I was in the car singing along to "Do You Wanna Touch?" and it hit me. That song is the ultimate "less talk, more fucking" song, so I figured it could serve as an anthem for Clark's frustration with the unresolved sexual tension between he and Lex. Thanks Gary! 

Disclaimer: If I owned them, Clark would swear more. 

~/~ 

Clark hated the world. 

All the superpowers in the world and he still couldn't make the line-up at Starbucks move any faster. 

Well, he supposed he _could_ , but it might give away his little secret. And people would be hurt. 

The woman in front of him was asking about every item on the menu. Clark pinched the bridge of his nose under his glasses. Rookies. 

Finally. 

"Tall medium roast, please." 

Clark dumped three packages of sugar in his coffee and a large amount of cream. No sooner had he turned around before someone bumped into him. Clark miserably looked down at his coffee-soaked shirt. He was so busy mourning the loss of good caffeine that he almost forgot. 

"Oh, um, ow. Hot," he mumbled. He knew it didn't sound believable. 

There was no time to get back in that line-up now. Perry wanted to meet Clark in ten minutes. He would have to drink the swill that was brewed at the office. 

He was tired. He didn't sleep a wink last night because there had been an earthquake in Turkey of all places. He didn't need much sleep, but a little was nice. The worst part was he couldn't even write exciting articles on the international disasters he witnessed everyday. Not if he wanted to hold on to his secret. 

At the office Clark got a face-full of Jimmy as soon as he walked in. 

"Good morning, Clark! You look rough! Did you sleep last night?" 

Clark muttered something about showing him "rough" that Jimmy didn't hear. 

"Where's my mug?" 

"Your mug?" 

"My high school mug. It's yellow." 

"Oh, um...yeah. That mug was broken. Sorry." 

"When?!" 

"Yesterday. I didn't know it was yours. Sorry, Clark." 

"Who else would have a Smallville High mug?!" Clark asked, just barely holding it together. 

Jimmy looked embarrassed. "Right. I guess I should have known. Sorry." 

Clark grabbed a dingy Daily Planet mug and filled it with the in-house sludge. 

"Where's the sugar?" 

"We're out of sugar." 

Clark closed his eyes and counted backwards in his head. 

"Sorry. I took the last packet." 

6...5...4...3... 

Clark opened his eyes. "Find out who buys the sugar. I want some here when I get out of my meeting." 

"Jeez! Yes sir, Mr Luthor!" 

Clark froze in the doorway as he exited. It was just a joke, Clark. Jimmy doesn't know that you know Lex Luthor as anything more than a power-hungry business man. Clark continued walking to Perry White's office. "Kent! Come in, close the door." 

There was no way this meeting was going to be good. Clark shut the door, sat down, and frowned at his coffee. Awful. He couldn't bring himself to drink it. 

"Kent, I've been thinking. You know that feature you've been writing on the homelessness problem in Metropolis?" 

"Sure...I've been working on it for almost a month." 

"Right, and that's great, Kent, really. The problem is, well...the problem is that homelessness doesn't sell. Now, I don't want all your hard work to go to waste, but I want you to cut your article down to a thousand words." 

"A THOUSAND WORDS?! But, Mr White, it was supposed to be a five-part series! It's over 20,000 words so far!" 

"That's fantastic, Kent. You should be very proud. But what I need you to do is streamline it." 

"By taking out 19,000 words?" 

"Exactly! That's a good boy!" 

"But...Mr White..." 

"I'll tell you what does sell papers: Superman. That's why I am getting Lane to write a five-part expose: The Real Superman." 

"The Real..." 

"She's good friends with him. Did you know that, Kent? I have to take advantage of that!" 

"Yes, I know she...but Mr White?" 

"Superman," Perry said distantly as he leaned back in his chair, "he's a newsman's dream come true." 

"Right." 

"That'll be all, Kent. Get to it!" 

"Yes, sir." Clark mumbled as he left the office. He was frustrated and confused. Had he just been upstaged by...himself? Back in his office he was faced with the last person he wanted to see. 

"Hey, Smallville, you look awful!" Lois said cheerfully, "Guess who was just given a five-part expose to write!" 

"Not me, that's for sure." 

"Me! And you'll never guess the subject!" 

"Annoying reporters and the partners that hate them?" 

"Superman," she said, ignoring him. "The Real Superman. The man behind the cape! I'm friends with him, you know." 

"I've heard." You're not so much his friend as a someone he has to rescue all the god damn time, Clark thought bitterly. And most of the time he doubted that the situations she got herself into were accidental. 

"What's wrong, Clark? You're not your usual mild-mannered self this morning." 

Lois took a haul off her Starbucks coffee as Clark looked at it longingly. 

"Sorry. Just...rough night," Clark sighed. 

"And what's a rough night for you, Smallville? Lost every game of solitaire? Plant died? Ran out of chocolate milk?" 

It would be so easy to just...kill her. One little flick of his hand, really. Hell, he could do it with his eyes. Instead he just looked at the ground, trying to stay in character. 

"I wonder how I should contact him..." Lois trailed. 

"Why don't you just call him, if you're such good friends?" 

"You can't just call Superman, Clark," Lois rolled her eyes, "It's not like he's in the phone book!" 

"What? You don't have his private cell phone number?" 

"Superman doesn't have a cell phone, Clark. But I think that he knows when you want to see him. He just knows," Lois gazed out the window dreamily. 

Now Clark rolled his eyes. His cell phone started buzzing on his hip. He detached it from his belt and looked at the text message on the screen. 

**ALIEN.**  
 **LEXCRP ROOF 2NITE. 10PM. UR ABSENCE WILL RSLT IN THE DEATH OF EVRY1 U LUV.**

Clark sighed and shook his head. Text message threats. Beneath everything, Lex was really just a huge techno geek with too much money. 

Really, this whole thing was getting old. Lex Luthor was the only person, besides Clark's parents, that knew Clark and Superman were one and the same. There was no way of hiding it from him. They had known each other for too long. 

They had been best friends, but it had always been shaky. It was a friendship underscored by lies and, in Clark's opinion, obvious sexual tension. It was possible that Lex had even been in love with him. It was also possible that he still was. 

Clark told Lex he was an alien when he turned eighteen. Lex took the news calmly, more triumphant than shocked. Lex had it figured out, but he still needed the admission. For awhile after that their friendship went better than it ever had. The lies were gone. Then the questions started. 

"Clark, can you imagine what we could do together? There would be no stopping us!" 

"Clark, don't you realize what your abilities allow you to do? You can do anything!" 

"Clark, don't you want to fix the world?" 

No, no, and no. Clark just wanted to live his life and help people when he could. He didn't want power and he didn't want attention. The only thing he had ever really wanted was Lex. And he started to doubt that, too. 

Lex wanted power. He wanted attention. He probably wanted Clark too. But Clark was skeptical about Lex's reasons for wanting Clark. Perhaps his father had always been right about not trusting him. 

Clark remembers the day LeXcorp bought out Luthor Corp. Lex had been twenty-five, Clark had been nineteen and in college. They were still friends, but had grown distant. The occasional phone call. Clark believed that he wouldn't even get those if it weren't for Lex's interest in what Clark was and what he could do. Clark had called to congratulate Lex that day. Lex had sounded strange. Most people would say that he simply sounded happy. Thrilled. Clark knew better. 

Lex sounded like someone who was scared but trying not to show it. He had finally achieved what he had been working towards for years. He destroyed his father. He was the CEO of one of the largest corporations on the planet at the age of twenty-five. Lex told Clark that he expected to be very busy for quite awhile. He wasn't kidding. Clark didn't hear from him again for over a year. 

It wasn't much of a secret to Clark why he was hired so quickly by the Daily Planet and given a full-time reporter job. A position it usually took years to earn. He had an office by the time he was twenty-three. He had tried to contact Lex to thank him. Or yell at him. He wasn't sure. Lex hadn't taken his calls. He probably expected to be yelled at. Or maybe he didn't want to admit he had anything to do with Clark's employment. 

The next time Clark heard from Lex was when Clark was twenty-six. Clark had recently started wearing the uniform and had been given the name Superman by the media (the very paper that he worked for). Lex wasn't interested in talking to Clark anymore. He wanted Superman. That's when it began. 

Lex Luthor. Superman's nemesis. Of course, no one but Clark knew that Lex was behind the elaborate schemes. In fact, mostly only Clark knew about the schemes at all, as they were always foiled by Superman. They were surprisingly easy to foil every time, though. Clark would have expected better from the smartest person he had ever met. Possibly the smartest person on Earth. 

That's when Clark began to get suspicious. As much as he was forced to believe, and as much as Lex wanted Clark to believe, that Lex was bent on destroying anything that got in the way of his plans for world domination, Clark just couldn't help wondering what Lex really wanted. So many times Lex had threatened to kill Superman. He had even executed a few weak attempts. But never had Lex done anything that Superman couldn't easily put an end to. 

It was getting tiring. 

He hadn't to spoken to Lex as Clark for years. Only as Superman. Clark was twenty-nine now. Lex was thirty-five. He looked younger. Actually, he didn't look a day older than he had when Clark had saved his life the first time. But maybe Clark was unable to see Lex as anything other than that startled young man on the river bank. Clark had been sure for years that Lex couldn't see Clark as anything other than an alien. He had been having his doubts lately. 

Maybe he was being falsely optimistic, but Lex's schemes were seeming less like threats to humanity and more like elaborate excuses to see Clark. He was almost embarrassed for Lex. 

Clark stared at the message on his phone before erasing it and clipping the phone back on his belt. He was sure that this latest threat would be harmless as well. But he would show up at ten, just in case. 

It pissed him off. It was very presumptuous of Lex to think that Clark had nothing better to do than run off to dismantle shoddy biochemical bombs and ridiculous mind-control instruments that Clark was sure didn't actually do anything. The last "poison gas bomb" he took into space to destroy smelled a lot like air freshener. 

"Earth to Clark!" 

"Huh?" Clark's head snapped up. Lois was smirking. 

"I asked what happened to your shirt." 

Clark looked down at the large brown coffee stain. He had forgotten. He really was a mess today. 

"I spilled coffee on myself this morning. Someone bumped into me at Starbucks." 

"So, it was hot coffee? Didn't that hurt?" 

Dammit. "Uh, yeah. Actually, I am going to go...buy some lotion...at the drug store. I don't want my skin to peel." 

"Let's see it, Smallville." 

"No!" Smooth. He tried to shape his alarmed expression into a smile. "Trying to get my shirt off, Lois?" 

"I just can't resist farmboys. Go to the store. I'll hold down the fort." 

"Right. Thanks." 

Clark didn't go to the drug store, of course. He went back to Starbucks to try his luck at getting coffee again. This time he made it out of the store with the biggest coffee he could get, stuffed with cream and sugar. He walked by a window that had a wall of televisions all showing CNN. There was a brush fire in Australia. Again. 

"Fuck," he grumbled as he discreetly slipped into an ally. He reluctantly threw the coffee into a garbage can. In the blink of an eye he was in his Superman suit and climbing high into the sky. He could probably control the fire and make sure everyone is safe and be back in his office within the hour. 

It took a little longer than he had expected. Those brush fires really spread quickly. Now he really wanted coffee. He raced back to Metropolis, stopping at his apartment to get a clean shirt before buying his third Starbucks coffee of the day. 

He made it to his office with it. Lois was irritated. 

"Where have you been?! Do you know how many phone calls I've had to answer?!" _Jeez, thought Clark, that must have been rough_. "Sorry, I..." 

"You went to Starbucks?! And you didn't even bring me anything back?!" 

"I, uh..." 

"Perry wants you at the opening of the new library right now. Actually, he wanted you there twenty minutes ago. So get going!" 

"Alright..." 

Lois swiftly took the coffee out of Clark's hands. "And since you're going out, I'll take this. You can get another one." 

Clark fought to keep from lighting her on fire. He liked Lois, he really did. Just...not...today. 

He was about to protest and take his coffee back, but he was confronted by an angry-looking Perry White. 

"Kent! Why are you still here?! The ribbon is being cut on that new library in ten minutes! Get down there! And take Olsen!" 

"Yes sir. Sorry sir. I'm on my way." 

* * *

Stupid boring library opening. Stupid annoying Jimmy. An hour ago Clark had been fighting a raging fire. Now he was part of a small crowd of geeks and politicians applauding the cutting of a ribbon. And _that_ was what he was expected to write the article about. 

And there wasn't even enough time to get coffee. 

The mayor's speech was boring. Clark's mind wandered. It took him to Lex. 

Lex was easily the most complicated and frustrating person Clark had ever met. Clark would wager that Lex was also the most complicated and frustrating person on Earth. 

But being complicated and frustrating did not negate being fascinating and sexy. 

The truth is, Clark had a massive crush on Lex from the time he was at fifteen. At first he never even considered that was what it was, but in retrospect, he had clearly been smitten. Clark could tell himself it was because of the hot cars and expensive clothes. No one in Smallville looked like Lex. Clark knew that it was more than just Lex's exoticness that attracted him. 

Clark had a need to save people. It was innate and indiscriminate. His abilities allowed him to save countless people. He could save the entire planet, if the situation presented itself. 

But it's hard to save the self-destructive. 

Critics had accused Lex Luthor of being ruthless in his business practices. They charged that he would demolish anything to advance LeXcorp. Clark admitted that Lex had certainly made some decisions that weren't the most compassionate, but the real tragedy for Clark was watching Lex destroy himself with each one. Clark knew Lex well enough to know that he was not as cold as Lex wanted the world to believe. 

He was just...confused. 

As confused as Clark had been when he was a teenager with a crush on an older, richer man. A man who insisted that they had a destiny together, but was vague about the details. Clark didn't question it. He liked the sound of it, regardless of what it actually meant. 

He never thought it meant _this_. 

Two grown men, pretending to be trying to destroy each other while carefully never succeeding. 

_Why_? 

There wasn't a day that went by where Clark didn't ask himself that question. Whatever the reason, it always seemed impossible to end it. They had just been doing it for so long. It had been years since Lex and Clark had spoken. Just Lex and Superman. It was like being in a play. The more Clark thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed. 

_Could he be more obviously in love with me_?! 

The first time that thought crossed Clark's mind he quickly dismissed it. He wasn't going to let himself go _there_ again. If Lex felt anything more than friendship for Clark, he had plenty of opportunities to tell him long ago. And it wasn't like Lex to not go after what he wants. 

But the absurd plots to destroy the world, or Superman, continued. Superman would always show up and notice that Lex seemed a little...shaken, by his presence. He could see something in his eyes as he went through the motions of villainy. Like it just...hurt him to see Clark. 

Lex was self-destructive to the extreme. 

"Clark?" 

Clark snapped to attention. "Huh?" 

"I said I'm going to take some up-close shots of the mayor. You gonna stay here?" 

"Oh, um, yeah. And then can we leave? I got some stuff I have to do at the office." _Like eliminating 19,000 words from my story_. 

As soon as the words left Clark's mouth, his cell phone rang. White. 

"Kent? Where are you now?" he barked. 

"I'm at the library. Like you asked." 

"Still? Well, get in the car. I need you at the LeXcorp building for a press conference in twenty minutes." 

Great. That's all Clark needed. "LeXcorp?" 

"Luthor just called it. Some sort of announcement. Supposed to be big." 

"Any idea what..." 

"Less talking, more driving Kent!" He hung up. 

Clark sighed. Twenty minutes. Not enough time for coffee. 

Fifteen minutes later Clark and Jimmy were among a group of reporters and camera men at the LeXcorp headquarters. Clark was uneasy. He had never covered any news concerning Lex before. He had always been thankful for that because it meant he and Lex could continue their game of never interacting out of character. As he stood waiting with the other media personnel for Lex to appear at the podium, Clark mentally figured out how long it had been since Lex and Clark had spoken last. 

A little over three years. Shit. 

A sudden hush and the flashing of cameras announced Lex's entrance. Clark looked up to see his old friend and current arch rival cross the stage. Always so confident. So cool. So good-looking. 

Clark blinked and took out his pocket recorder. 

"Good afternoon," Lex started, sweeping his eyes over the room. They paused on Clark unmistakably. Although Clark was sure he was the only one who noticed, Lex's expression changed slightly when he noticed Clark. He quickly erased any recognition from his face and continued speaking. 

The "big announcement" turned out to be pretty mundane. LeXcorp had acquired another small laboratory, M.A.D. Clark raised an eyebrow. It wasn't the kind of news that justified a press conference. Most of the reporters looked disappointed, or at least confused. They seemed to scramble for questions. 

"Er, Mr Luthor?" one guy from a local business magazine started, "How will this affect the employees of M.A.D.?" 

"Oh, it should have no effect. I don't intend to make any changes to the current staff." 

Silence. 

"Mr Luthor?" another reporter spoke. "How will this further the growth of LeXcorp?" 

"Well, we now own one more laboratory." 

Silence. 

This was ridiculous. 

"Mr Luthor?" 

Lex looked startled as he turned his eyes to Clark. "Yes...in the glasses?" 

"Is it your intention to focus M.A.D.'s resources on the study of meteor rocks as you have with every other laboratory you've acquired?" 

If looks could kill. Lex's jaw clenched as he glared at Clark. 

"I am afraid that you are mis-informed." 

"Would you care to explain your obsession with meteor rocks, Mr. Luthor?" Clark continued with a sparkle in his eye. He was enjoying himself now. 

"I don't have time for this. The press conference is over. Good day." 

Lex abruptly turned and left the stage. 

"Clark, what the hell were you talking about?" Jimmy asked. 

"Apparently nothing," Clark said, smiling. 

* * *

At 9:00 pm Clark was lying on his bed, facing the ceiling. He was listening to a CD that Lex had made him back when Clark was in high school. Clark hadn't listened to it in years. One of Lex's attempts to improve Clark's musical tastes. It was full of acceptably cool bands like The Flaming Lips and Kula Shaker. 

It was hard to believe that his and Lex's relationship had ever been like that. Just a couple of friends who made CDs for each other. Not that it had ever really been that simple. At best they were a couple of friends who lied to each other. Despite this their relationship always had an intensity that Clark had never had with anyone else. Not even the handful of girls he had dated. Clark had lied to Lex since the day he met him, but it was involuntary. He lied to everyone. He couldn't make Lex an exception. 

He sighed as he listened to the no doubt carefully chosen songs. Lex had an appreciation of song lyrics, and there was no way these songs weren't on the CD for a reason. 

_Alien Identities_  
 _Don't Hide That Special Place From Me_ _You Walked Through A Fire_  
 _With A Ten Headed Lion_  
 _And Turned On Your Destiny_. 

Subtle, Lex. 

At twenty past nine, Clark crossed his bachelor apartment to the fridge to get himself a glass of orange juice. He never did get to have the coffee he had pined for all day. It had been a brutal afternoon. He was trying to shrink his feature on homelessness down to the requested thousand words, but was frequently interrupted by irritating tasks that people asked of him. 

And this stupid ten o'clock rendez-vous with Lex had been on his mind all day. 

He had half a mind to not even show up. It's not like anything would happen if he didn't. And it would be fun to think about how confused Lex would be about his failure to jump when he said so. 

Clark really didn't feel like being Superman tonight. He would much rather sit slumped in his armchair watching reality television shows and eating Cheetos off his own lap. Even saviors deserved a night off. 

At ten minutes to ten Clark was standing in the middle of his apartment dressed in blue spandex, red boots and a red cape. You know, normal evening wear. He looked at himself in the mirror. He folded his arms across his chest, staring menacingly at himself. Jesus. How did criminals not just crack up when he did that? He looked ridiculous. 

"Give up, Luthor. It's over!" he said to his reflection in his Superman voice. 

He always called him Luthor now. And Lex called him Alien, or Superman with a mocking tone. 

"Show's over, Luthor." 

"You'll never get away with this, Luthor!" 

"Evil never wins, Luthor!" 

Then his face softened in the mirror. 

"What are you doing, Lex?" 

"I miss you, Lex." 

"I...love you, Lex." 

Get it together, Superman. Luthor is expecting you. 

But, wouldn't it be fun to give him something he wouldn't be expecting? 

Clark smiled at himself. 

* * *

Clark streaked out the window into the sky. Twenty seconds later he was landing softly on the roof of LeXcorp. 

Lex had his back turned to him. Clark supposed this was for dramatic effect. 

"Ah, the alien arrives. On time, as usual. Very good. I admire punctuality in a man." 

"Is this going to take long?" 

Lex kept his back to Clark, looking down over the city he owned. 

"In _The Republic_ Plato wrote that guardians of civilization must be watched from childhood. That they must show an ability to hold on to their beliefs. To not fall victim to persuasion or greed. He also said that they must be tested, subjected to ordeals of toil and pain. Those who come through unscathed, he said, would take their rightful place as Ruler." 

Jesus. How long had he been planning that one? 

"Are you talking about me or you?" Clark asked Lex's back. 

Even without using x-ray vision, Clark knew Lex was smirking. 

"That remains to be determined, Alien." 

Clark rolled his eyes and walked toward Lex. He stopped a few feet away. 

"Shut up, Lex." 

Lex's body stiffened. He finally turned around. His expression was priceless. 

"Hi, Lex." 

Clark watched Lex's eyes take in the casual khaki pants and blue button-down shirt he was wearing. 

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked flatly, but his voice was shaking. 

"Oh, the clothes you mean?" Clark asked casually, "Well, the suit is at the cleaners. I suppose I could have at least tied a blanket around my neck..." 

Lex was trying to compose himself, but Clark could see it was difficult. 

"Get out of here." 

"You want me to leave, Lex?" 

"Don't call me that. You have no right to call me that." 

Clark laughed. "No right? How many times do I have to save your life before I earn that right?" 

"I told you to leave." 

"But what about my loved ones, Lex? I thought you were going to kill them all if I didn't..." 

Clark's eyes looked directly into Lex's and he stopped talking. They were full of pain and fear. Clark knew then the answer to every question he had asked himself for the past several years. 

Clark reached out and placed both of his hands on Lex's shoulders. "Don't...don't touch me," Lex said, but he closed his eyes. 

"Lex, I don't want this. I never wanted this. We don't have to be enemies. It's stupid. You don't want it either. I know you don't." 

"You don't know," Lex said faintly, his eyes still closed. 

Clark ran his hands down Lex's arms and took the older man's hands. Lex's eyes clenched in response. 

"Don't. Please don't." 

Clark knew what he really meant. "I won't, Lex. I won't ever hurt you. I don't want to hurt you." 

Lex swallowed. 

"Do you want to know what I want?" Clark asked. 

"Clark," Lex breathed. Clark closed his eyes for a second. It was so good to hear Lex say his real name again. He leaned in and kissed him. Lex's mouth immediately opened beneath his. Clark kissed him hungrily. 

He tasted like coffee. 

**-END-**

__*Musical reference: lyrics are from "Mystical Machine Gun" by Kula Shaker, found on their highly underrated album, Peasants, Pigs and Astronauts.


End file.
